The Co-operative has said sales have been positive despite a “very tough” trading environment.
The Co-operative Group's chief executive Peter Marks, speaking on BBC Radio 4, said the group’s “diverse” business meant that some areas were fairing better than others.
Marks said: "It is very tough at the moment; we are a diverse business so different parts of our business have fared differently.
“However, food is fairly resilient and retail food is our biggest business, which has performed extremely well.
He added: “We are going through a big change - we are integrating Somerfield which we bought, and we are also investing heavily in our shops and stores to modernise them.
“We are benefiting from this investment and our like-for-like sales performance has been very good. We recorded a record profit last year and we are going to do pretty much the same this year."
